


an impasse

by ictus



Category: Batwoman (Comic), DCU (Comics), The Question (Comics)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Chocolate Box Treat, F/F, Pre-Canon, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-25 04:04:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17717693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ictus/pseuds/ictus
Summary: “Renee,” she says and somehow, Renee’s conceded ground, has allowed Kate to back her right up against the wall. “I can’t let you do that.”Renee grits her teeth. “That’s not up to you.”





	an impasse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Panny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panny/gifts).



> Panny—I loved your letter. While we don't have a lot of overlap in the canon we enjoy for these two, I was excited to see you'd also read _Convergence_ and I jumped at the opportunity to write this. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Continuity notes: set immediately prior to the events of _Convergence: The Question_ , references _Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #3_.

 

The shadows are shifting.

The stutter of a street lamp as its stream of light is obscured, a flicker of red in her periphery. Renee’s been the Question for years now, has been a cop for even longer; she knows when she’s being followed. She pushes on, does her best to focus on the task at hand. But her shade is relentless, a constant presence at the edge of her vision no matter how many times she doubles back to lose it.

She’s just rounding City Hall when her patience runs thin.

“You can come out now.”

The shadows are still for so long, Renee thinks she might have caught the attention of the Bat himself. But when they finally form the shape of a person, there’s no mistaking the way Renee’s pulse jumps in her throat, the disarmingly familiar thrill in the pit of her stomach.

“Hello Renee.”

Renee’s mouth goes dry. She manages a curt nod as the words gradually become unstuck in her throat. “Hello Kate.”

If Batwoman’s struck by being addressed by name in the field, her body doesn’t betray her. Her posture gives nothing away, all of her tells kept in check, inscrutable behind the mask in a way that leaves Renee desperately wishing for her own.

“Huntress tells me you’re working with Dent. Why?”

Renee huffs out a laugh in spite of herself. It takes all of her willpower to keep her hands from balling into fists, to resist the urge to cross the distance between them. There’s no need to escalate the situation. Not yet.

“Right to it, huh? No ‘hey Renee, it’s been a while’?”

Batwoman may be impassive but Renee can read Kate Kane better than anyone, doesn’t miss slight jut of her chin, the way she straightens her shoulders. Defensive, then. Well that makes two of them.

Kate ignores the barb. “Huntress contacted me because she’s concerned.” She hesitates before continuing, the first chink in her armour. “Whatever it is you need him for, it’s not worth jeopardising—”

“My father’s dying,” she bites out, blinking back that familiar sting behind her eyes, trying to ignore the way her breath stutters with barely-contained grief. This time Kate actually does flinch, taking half a step forward before stopping and holding her ground, wanting to approach Renee and thinking better of it.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“So am I. Two-Face has got word on a pharmacy that hasn’t been stripped. There are dozens of patients at Saint Luke’s who are suffering, who need this, who need _me._ I can’t turn my back on them, Kate, and I’ll to do whatever it takes. Even if it means methods you don’t personally approve of.”

“Renee,” she says softly, and Renee’s struck by the memory of the hundreds of other times Kate’s said her name just like that, whispered with a tenderness that makes her heart ache. Suddenly the mask is falling away and there are no capes, no costumes—just the two of them in a dingy alley and weight of years of history settling heavily between them.

“Renee,” she says again and somehow, Renee’s conceded ground, has allowed Kate to back her right up against the wall. “I can’t let you do that.”

Renee grits her teeth. “That’s not up to you.”

And Kate—for all of her military training, for all of her years fighting alongside the Bat—doesn’t see it coming. Renee’s armed with only a knife, but the hilt is solid, weighted, and it splits Kate’s lip cleanly when Renee strikes her. Kate recoils, stumbling back, and Renee makes up her lost ground, advances on her and doesn’t hold back. Kate blocks all of her blows deftly, somehow always half a second ahead, and when she gets Renee in the ribs and follows it with a strike to her jaw, Renee finds herself stumbling backwards into the wall.

Kate doesn’t waste a second, pinning her wrists to the brickwork and trapping her with her entire body. Renee’s head spins with the intimacy of it, remembering the last time she felt Kate’s body pressed against hers, her stomach twisting at the memory. The sound of the knife clattering to the ground is secondary, reaching her as if from a great distance, and it takes several seconds for her to realise Kate’s forced it out of her hand.

“I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then let me go!”

“You know I can’t do that. Dent is dangerous Renee, you don’t realise what he’s capable of—”

“I know better than anyone,” she spits, gritting her teeth against a fresh wave of anger. After everything Dent’s put her through, the thought that she would let her guard down around him sparks a fury that burns her from the inside out. Renee twists in her grip but Kate’s holding her fast, their bodies so close that Renee can feel her breath on her lips. Renee wants to lick the blood out of her mouth. Renee wants to watch bruises bloom beneath her fists.

“Just let me help you, tell me the name of the pharmacy, we can take care of this together.”

Renee’s head is spinning, lost in the memory of Kate’s lips on her own. “I—no, I don’t need your help.”

Kate’s grip on her wrists falters, her breath catching in her throat. Renee imagines her eyes widening behind the mask. “He hasn’t told you, has he? He won’t give up a name, because he doesn’t want you handling this yourself. Don’t you see how he’s manipulating you, making you completely dependent on him?”

Renee is blinded by a flash of rage so consuming it leaves no space for thought. Reacting on instinct alone, she wrenches her wrists out of Kate’s loosened grip and pushes against her, forcing some distance between them. Kate stumbles back, caught off-balance, and Renee takes advantage of the momentary falter to deliver a kick to Kate’s chest, right on the emblem she wears like a badge of honour. The kevlar absorbs some of the shock but it’s enough to put her on her back, leaving her bloodied and panting at Renee’s feet.

“I don’t need you or anyone else protecting me,” she spits with as much vitriol as she can muster. “Maybe you should have asked what I want—but that’s never been a question, has it?” Kate flinches at having her own words thrown back in her face and Renee brims with vicious satisfaction, savouring the pained expression that bleeds through the mask.

“Goodbye Kate.”

Kate makes a sound but Renee ignores her, leaving the alley without looking back.

She checks her watch, finds her bearings. Two-Face’s rendezvous point is only a few blocks from here. If she hurries, she’s sure she can still make it in time.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/scansionictus).


End file.
